Teaching kids about home maintenance

As with just about everything in life, home maintenance is much slower when you have kids. Squeezing a project in between getting snacks, wiping noses and calming meltdowns is the reality for parents, and it makes concentration incredibly frustrating. It may be easy to turn on the TV so your kids can zombie-out to Spongebob for a few minutes while you get a project done, but consider how much children can learn from doing a project with you. If you take the time to teach them, they will thank you later. Here are a few of the many concepts a child can learn from caring for the house with you.

The importance of maintenance. If you don’t involve your children in home maintenance, they may be unaware of all the work you do to keep your home in good condition. If you invite them to help regularly, they’ll learn the importance of caring for a home and, by extension, the value you place in owning your house and property. They may be more eager to take care of the home in the future.

School concepts outside the classroom. The sooner kids understand that math is part of everyday life, the better. Give them a chance to practice and show off their arithmetic skills by doing the simple math involved in home maintenance projects, like measuring boards or counting screws. It’ll give them an opportunity to show off and make learning part of their home life.

The names of tools and parts. There are so many tools in the hardware store that even the most seasoned handyman has probably never used all of them. That being said, teaching your child the names of the most basic tools, parts and projects will give her a leg up when she starts caring for her own future home.

Safety precautions and equipment. Home maintenance projects are a valuable opportunity to teach your children about safety. Teaching him to wear the appropriate equipment and to carefully handle chemicals or heavy tools will keep him safe and give him the confidence to do projects on his own when he’s a young adult.